2G Spectrum Scam
DB Realty paid Rs 4.5 cr to Cong MLA’s son
The MLA says his son had business transactions with Shahid Balwa’s firm but denies any wrongdoingMumbai, March 26
Dynamix Realty, a subsidiary of D B Realty, which has come under the probe agencies' scanner in the 2G spectrum allocation scam, had deposited Rs 4.5 crore in the bank account of the son of Congress MLA Kripashankar Singh, facing a court case for allegedly amassing huge illegal wealth.

Modi lodges protest with PM over I-T notice
Ahmedabad, March 26
Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi today met Prime Minister Manmohan Singh here and protested the notice from the Income-Tax Department to the state government over the MoUs signed during the Vibrant Gujarat Summit
(VGS).

It’s Jaitley’s turn now to disown WikiLeaks
New Delhi, March 26
Barely had the BJP recovered from one WikiLeaks expose concerning BJP parliamentary party working chairman L.K. Advani, that a second one has come, forcing Leader of Opposition in the Rajya Sabha Arun Jaitley to deny he had ever termed the BJP’s Hindutva (or Hindu nationalism) plank as opportunistic.

Revolt in Cong after denial of party ticket
Kolkata, March 26
In-fighting in the state Congress once again came to the fore following denial of tickets to some party candidates in the districts who had been recommended for nomination by their respective district presidents.

Student held for extorting Rs 30 lakh from junior
Agra March 26
In a shocking incident, a class XI student has been arrested for bullying and extort Rs 30 lakh from a class VII student of the same school here. A report lodged by the father of victim Kushagra Nagwani said the boy had over the past several months been demanding big sums for his personal use, which appeared unusual to them over the past 18 months. He also found that some valuables kept in the house were missing.

Only 120 visas for
Pak cricket fans so farNew Delhi, March 26Despite the hype around the Indo-Pak cricket match and the offer of 5,000 visas by India, Pakistan cricket fans will miss out on the encounter and the historic cricket diplomacy.

2G Spectrum Scam
DB Realty paid Rs 4.5 cr to Cong MLA’s son
The MLA says his son had business transactions with Shahid Balwa’s firm but denies any wrongdoing

Mumbai, March 26
Dynamix Realty, a subsidiary of D B Realty, which has come under the probe agencies' scanner in the 2G spectrum allocation scam, had deposited Rs 4.5 crore in the bank account of the son of Congress MLA Kripashankar Singh, facing a court case for allegedly amassing huge illegal wealth.

According to bank documents annexed to a PIL filed in Bombay High Court against the MLA, the statement of Samata Sahakari Bank account in the names of his son Narendra Mohan Singh and daughter-in-law Ankita, showed four deposits made by Dynamix Reality, totalling Rs 4.5 crore during 2008-2009.

A statement by the depositor, meanwhile, said, "Dynamix Realty had given a loan to Mr Narendra Mohan Singh which has been repaid to the company on March 12, 2010".

The Bombay High Court had on March 3 come down heavily on state Anti-corruption Bureau, Income Tax and Enforcement Directorate for not sharing information among themselves and asked the agencies to probe the source of transactions reflected in the bank accounts of Kripashankar Singh and his relatives.

The court noted "When the petition contains serious allegations about inaction on the part of respondents in not taking any action against Kripashankar and his kins and the specific details of bank accounts provided by petitioner, we find it difficult to accept that enquiries cannot be completed in the matter in spite of passage of nine months".

The court said, "For instance, in para 9, petitioner has given specific details of bank accounts and mentioned that there were several deposits amounting to Rs 3.3 crores and more than Rs 30 crores were also deposited in the concerned bank accounts. The total turnover in the said account over a period of two years was about Rs 60 crores. The bank statements are not disputed by Singh and others".

The PIL, filed by Sanjay Tiwari, a social worker, has also alleged that Kripashankar, a former state minister and currently the Mumbai Pradesh Congress Chief was close to former Jharkhand Chief Minister Madhu Koda, allegedly involved in a multi-crore hawala scam. It also alleged that a lot of transactions took place between the two. ED, however, has said it had not found any links between Koda and Singh.

Meanwhile, reacting to the allegations Singh said his son had business transactions with (Vinod) Goenka (chairman of DB Realty) but denied any wrongdoing.

"He (Singh's son) recieved the amount in cheque and paid (back) in cheque. There is nothing objectionable in the transaction," the Congress leader told PTI.

"An amount of Rs 3 crore was received from Dynamix Realty through two cheques and was meant for business purpose as recorded in books of accounts and my IT returns," Singh's son Narendra Mohan Singh said.

"As the business transactions did not materialise the amount was refunded in March last year. The refund reflected in books of accounts," Narendra said in a statement.

DB Realty's Managing Director Shahid Balwa is under the lens of investigative agencies for his alleged role in the 2G spectrum allocation scam and resigned from the board of directors of the company after his arrest.
— PTI

Ahmedabad, March 26
Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi today met Prime Minister Manmohan Singh here and protested the notice from the Income-Tax Department to the state government over the MoUs signed during the Vibrant Gujarat Summit (VGS).

The I-T notice had sought details of all such MoUs signed during the summit in January, where companies had pledged investments of over Rs 1,000 crore. Modi met Manmohan Singh, who is here to take part in the annual convocation ceremony of the IIM (Ahmedabad), at the Circuit House here and strongly protested the I-T notice, sources in the Chief Minister's office said.

“The PM agreed with Modi that this should not have happened. He has promised to look into the issue,” the sources claimed. The meeting was not scheduled in the PM's programme. The I-T Department, in a letter sent to the state government, stated that an inquiry was pending in connection with the Vibrant Gujarat Summit 2011, and the “details of the MoUs signed by various corporate entities with the Government of Gujarat need to be examined.”
— PTI

New Delhi, March 26
Barely had the BJP recovered from one WikiLeaks expose concerning BJP parliamentary party working chairman L.K. Advani, that a second one has come, forcing Leader of Opposition in the Rajya Sabha Arun Jaitley to deny he had ever termed the BJP’s Hindutva (or Hindu nationalism) plank as opportunistic.

Jaitley today issued a statement saying “A cable by a US diplomat to his government in 2005 makes a reference to his conversation with me. The cable reflects my views on cross-border terrorism, illegal infiltration from Bangladesh and the unfair denial of US visa to the Gujarat Chief Minister.

“However, the use of the word “opportunistic” in reference to nationalism or Hindu nationalism is neither my view nor my language. It could be the diplomat’s own usage.”

Jaitley was rebutting the contents of the cable sent by US Charge D’ affaires Robert Blake to Washington on May 6, 2005. It is generally appreciative of Jaitley projecting him as a front runner for the number one position in his party the BJP, hinting also that he could be the BJP’s prime ministerial candidate at some point of time.

But Blake also said in his cable, "Pressed on the question of Hindutva, Jaitley argued that Hindu nationalism 'will always be a talking point' for the BJP. However, he characterised this as an opportunistic issue,"

While acknowledging his meeting with “A US diplomat” and the rest of the contents of this cable as exposed by the WikiLeaks, Jaitely denied only this part of the purported conversation between him and Blake.

He led the Opposition in the Upper House of Parliament on March 17 to nail Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and demand his resignation on the strength of WikiLeaks cables again quoting a US diplomat claiming that his junior official had been shown chest full of cash by a Congress functionary to buy MPs for the confidence vote of July 2008.

Leading the charge against the Prime Minister, Advani said that day, “The disclosures had confirmed “our suspicions” and the ‘cash-for-vote’ scam.” He also said, “All the time you were saying, ‘Why don’t we seek the Prime Minister’s resignation. Today we demand that the Prime Minister should resign.”

Kolkata, March 26
In-fighting in the state Congress once again came to the fore following denial of tickets to some party candidates in the districts who had been recommended for nomination by their respective district presidents.

A section of the aggrieved party workers and supporters yesterday revolted and demonstrated in front of the party office at Bidhan Bhavan when neither the WBPCC president Dr Manash Bhuiya nor any other leaders were present. A large CRPF contingent had been deployed there.
— TNS

Agra March 26
In a shocking incident, a class XI student has been arrested for bullying and extort Rs 30 lakh from a class VII student of the same school here. A report lodged by the father of victim Kushagra Nagwani said the boy had over the past several months been demanding big sums for his personal use, which appeared unusual to them over the past 18 months. He also found that some valuables kept in the house were missing.

Suspecting that something was wrong, the parents asked Kushagra about the large sums he had been taking and he confessed that a senior boy incidentally also called Kushagra was coercing him into bringing the money and valuables. The father, a local jeweller, said the telephone calls made by the accused were taped and handed over to the police, who said the accused had confessed his crime.

The father said complaints made to the school administration had gone unheeded and that the bully had a full-fledged gang operating in the school.— PTI

New Delhi, March 26
Despite the hype around the Indo-Pak cricket match and the offer of 5,000 visas by India, Pakistan cricket fans will miss out on the encounter and the historic cricket diplomacy.

So far, only 120 Pakistanis have been issued visas to visit Mohali. The criterion to get a visa was to hold a valid ticket to the semifinal clash. Only 120 Pakistani nationals, including officials, had valid tickets, passes or invites for the Mohali match. They had been issued visas after carrying out a verification process that takes 30 days.

For Pakistan nationals and for people of Pakistan origin, the Union Home Ministry clears the visa applications. The Home Ministry allows anyone from Pakistan who has visited India in the past two years and he will get a visa without undergoing the 30-day verification process. In a way, a Pakistani fan, who wants to visit Mohali now but has not been ‘verified’ earlier, cannot get visa.

2 CPM women found dead
Jhargram (WB): Decomposed bodies of two kidnapped women, both CPM supporters, were found from a jungle in the Manikpara area of West Midnapore district on Saturday. Momina Bibi (58) and her sister-in-law Amina Bibi (44) were identified by their family. The duo was forcibly taken away by suspected Maoists on Tuesday, ASP Mukesh Kumar said.
— PTI

Three charred to death in Ajmer
Jaipur: Three persons were charred to death and one received severe burns on Saturday as two trucks collided head on and burst into flames in Ajmer district, the police said. The vehicles collided head on and caught fire in which a driver Banti and two unidentified persons were burnt to death while another named Sanjay was critically injured, they said.
— PTI

Maoists blast school building in Bihar
Gaya: Maoists blasted a school building at Tilaiya Khurd in Bihar's Gaya district, the police said on Saturday. Over 70 Maoists surrounded the school and triggered a dynamite to blow up the building of the state-run school.
— PTI

Eggs thrown at Agnivesh’s convoy
Raipur: Alleged members of Salwa Judum on Saturday threw eggs at the vehicles carrying Swami Agnivesh and other social activists who were visiting Dantewada district of Chhattisgarh to inquire about the burning of tribals' houses. R Prasanna, District Collector, said Salwa Judum activists allegedly threw eggs and tomatoes at their vehicles.
— PTI